


Stranger places to find Love

by Zyn_the_Wolf



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Rocket has feelings but doesn't understand them, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-05-12 01:21:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19218736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zyn_the_Wolf/pseuds/Zyn_the_Wolf
Summary: This story is set in the same universe as my previous one-shots Color me Purple and Special wake-up call. This one however is a multi-chapter story detailing how Rocket and Peter got together hope you enjoy.





	1. Chapter one

Rocket sat in his workshop aboard the Milano questioning the actions he just made and the feelings he had felt just hours before. It was just a routine job apprehend the criminals and return them and the stolen contraband to the Nova Corps. ‘But then that idiot Quill had to get cocky and got himself knocked unconscious from behind.’ Rocket mused silently while he tinkered with some spare parts, one of his favorite activities when he becomes stressed out, or needs time to think.

 

‘On top of that what the flark was I thinking… I mean I know Quills our friend and of course what I did was the right thing to do… but what was that feeling that came over me… It didn’t feel normal I felt like protecting Quill was the only thing that mattered to me in that moment...’ Rocket tried pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind for now so that he could finish the work he had been fiddling with for the past hour or so. Another hour goes by and Rocket finds himself unable to keep the thoughts about the earlier events pushed from his mind so he puts the unfinished project in one of his drawers and lays down in his bed staring at the ceiling until he eventually fell asleep.

 

—————-flashback dream—————

Seeing Peter drop unconscious on the ground behind him Rocket quickly made his way over to his fallen comrade and stood protectively over him almost by some weird instinct. With a growl that even Rocket didn’t know where it came from he quickly dispatched both goons and restrained them. “Gamora, the targets are apprehended, one of them managed to knock our fearless captain out cold so we’ll need you to meet us here with the Milano for an evac.” Rocket spoke into the Comms. System in his ear.” 

 

“On my way Rocket just hang tight.” 

 

————end flashback dream————-

Rocket awoke drenched in a bit of sweat as he sat up placing his face in the palms of his hands. “Gaaahh why did I suddenly feel so protective over that ridiculous Star-Dork…” Rocket questioned aloud this time. With one last groan of frustration Rocket fell back onto the bed and allowed himself to try once more to get some well needed sleep.

The next morning Rocket woke up feeling exceedingly exhausted as despite his best efforts he had unfortunately woken up approximately five more times throughout the night as his mind continued to attempt processing Rocket’s behaviors and feelings. Rocket decided he should go and check to see what was on schedule today, bounties and what not,

 

‘surely some work will help me relax, shooting stuff always makes me feel better, especially if I’m getting paid to do it.’ Rocket convinced himself to get up and head to the cockpit.

 

Upon entering the cockpit Rocket was met with the familiar sight and sound of Drax sharpening his knives, “Mornin’ Drax.” Rocket greeted as he hopped up into his seat in the Milano.

 

Drax paused from his work to look up towards Rocket with a smile, “Good morning to you as well Rocket.” Drax kindly responded before returning his attention to his knives.

 

Rocket took advantage of the fact that Peter “Star-Dork” Quill was still absent from the cockpit and decided he would try once again to rest his eyes for a bit.

 

Rocket had almost managed to get to sleep when he heard Peter’s booming voice ring through the cockpit, “Morning Guys, so who’s ready for the next job?” Peter said jolting Rocket out of his near sleep. Rocket blinked a few times as he roused from his brief nap before looking up at peter, “and what mission did the oh great powerful Star-Dork get for us this time? After all I thought yesterday would be an easy enough mission, but then I had to save your Flarkin ass..” Rocket responded with his usual sass, but this time tinged with a tad bit of irritation due to his lack of sleep.

Peter brushed off the jab at his overconfidence getting the best of him yesterday and decided it was best to just continue discussing today’s assignment, “Anyways, we have been asked to provide security detail for a transport carrying some very powerful, very volatile fuel the delivery is going from Xandar to the Kyln.” Peter said resting his arm casually around Gamora who was seated next to him. Rocket didn’t know why, but he felt unusually irritated by Quill’s actions, so much so that a light growl managed to escape him.

 

Rocket attempted to cover up the agitated sound that exited his body quickly, by passing it off as distaste for the mission, “Sounds easy enough, never thought I’d be taking a friendly visit back to the Kyln though” he said. Rocket was certain he managed to deflect attention away from his sudden outburst, but little did he know that Gamora was well aware of Rocket’s minor twinge of aggression at Peter’s actions and made a mental note to keep an eye on Rocket.

 

Rocket hopped out of his seat in the cockpit and began walking back toward his room, “I’m gonna go get prepped for the mission, Star-Dork just inform me when we arrive.” Rocket said simply before making it out of the cockpit. Shutting the door behind him Rocket grabbed a piece of scrap metal from the floor and lobbed it across the room to the adjacent wall with a frustrated growl,

“The flark is wrong with me… First getting protective over Quill during our last mission, now my body is reacting towards Quill’s actions towards Gamora as if I’m suddenly… No that can’t be it…. I just need to focus on this mission.”

Rocket said trying to calm himself down at least enough to get to work. He headed over towards his collection of weaponry and began deciding on the best loadout suited for the upcoming mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Rocket sat aboard the Nova Corps transport ship in his position watching over one of the canisters of fuel. Rocket for the past forty minutes while guarding the fuel had proceeded to take apart and put back together a small gadget he had made for the sole purpose of giving himself something to fidget with when bored or anxious. Rocket was in fact bored, and very much anxious, the source of that anxiety, the random Nova Corps crew that was assigned to the same section of the transport ship as him. 

 

The Nova Corps may be their allies now since becoming Guardians, however that does not make Rocket any more comfortable about working so closely with them given his history, that being said Rocket was also simultaneously glad they were there because their presence kept Rocket from giving into the urge to inspect, and possibly nab a sample of the fuel in the container beside him. The longer Rocket sat in the presence of the guards however something hadn’t felt right, but he decided to brush it off for now.

 

Worst of all this silence left Rocket with nothing to do except think, which given what’s been occupying his mind lately is the last thing he wanted to be doing. Rocket repeatedly attempted to allow his mind to go blank and just focus on his hands working the scraps of metal in his hands.

 

‘Even if I was falling for Quill…’ he thought hypothetically to himself, ‘there would be billions of reasons why it just wouldn’t work so my best course of action would be to simply forget about it, besides who would even love someone… something like me?’ Rocket continued to ponder as he felt a pang of sadness as that last thought passed through his mind. 

 

It was times like this that even Rocket could admit he’d much prefer Quill’s Terran music to this uncomfortable silence he was experiencing right now. Rocket then pictured the mental image of Peter dancing about on the Milano blasting one of his various earth songs. A few moments went by and the thought changes and Rocket suddenly saw someone dancing along with Peter too short to be Gamora, as soon as Rocket realized it was him who he envisioned dancing with peter he violently shook his head to try and clear that mental image from his mind, 

 

“that was Flarkin’ weird…” Rocket muttered to himself, but whether he acknowledged it or not a part of Rocket did enjoy the idea that had displayed itself so vividly in his mind just moments ago.

 

After another hour or so Rocket heard the pilot over the intercom, 

 

“Kyln in sight hold tight for landing.” Rocket felt a wave of relief that his boredom was nearly halfway over, all that would be left was to suffer another agonizingly silent flight back to Xandar before returning to the Milano. Rocket felt the ship shake as it landed in the docking bay at the Kyln he took this as a sign that it was time to finally get the highly volatile cargo off the ship so he made his way to the exit accompanied by the soldiers he was with as they carried the canister once aboard the Kyln Rocket regrouped with Peter, Gamora, and Drax. Rocket instantly felt more at ease being amongst his crewmates, he would never dream of saying something so sappy to their faces, but they really had become his family, the only beings in the entire galaxy he felt comfortable with, even if they drove him crazy. 

 

That being said, he still wasn’t thrilled to be standing back in the place he had not so long ago broken out of, even if he wasn’t wearing a yellow uniform this time around. One of the Kyln guards approached Peter with a case full of units, 

 

“1,000 units as agreed upon, all four containers appear to be in one piece.” Peter thanked the guard and collected the reward, just as Peter finished stashing the money a gunshot flew by his head. 

Everyone turned to see the gun raised at peter was held by one of the men in the Nova uniforms, “I believe you must have something of ours…” as the man spoke the other “Nova Guards” raised their respective blasters and aimed at the guardians. Peter immediately drew his blasters, 

 

“everyone get back!” he yelled out to the Kyln staff who quickly fled the scene leaving just the Guardians and these mystery attackers. 

 

The Guardians found some cover just in time to dodge the first round of incoming blaster fire,  
“Flark me…” Rocket grumbled to himself as he removed his two blasters from his holsters, the weapons looking like smaller single handed variations of his quad-barreled blaster as he ducked from behind a wall and shot two of the hijackers square in the chest.

 

“Protect the fuel, we don’t know who these guys are or what they want with it!” Peter yelled over the noise of the ensuing firefight. After a few more moments Peter signaled the Guardians to advance on the attackers, Drax and Gamora both dispatching the two most adjacent men with a quick use of their blades, while Rocket and Peter advanced on the leader quickly shooting down the goons who tried getting in the way.

 

“Keep your head in the present this time Quill, I don’t need to be saving your ass twice in less than two days!” Rocket jabbed at Peter in his usual sarcastic tone as the duo closed in on the head of this little operation. Peter’s response was to flash a smirk back at Rocket, “don’t you worry Rocket what kind of a captain would I be if you had to save me every time?” He jokes back. As Rocket and Peter approached the mystery man Peter circled around back so that him and Rocket had him blocked on either side with their weapons readied at him.

 

Judging the situation as a loss the leader, spoke once more, “If I can’t get my hands on this precious fuel… no one else can!” and before Peter or Rocket could react the man fired his blaster at one of the tanks causing a huge explosion to go off. The last thing Rocket saw before losing consciousness was the Prison guards re-entering the scene running over to check on him and the other guardians.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like the Roquill ship, Rocket in general, and the GotG, join the fandom on Discord: https://discord.gg/nk7PFMx


	3. Chapter three

Rocket woke up in a bed in what he could only assume was a hospital on Xandar. Once he was able to open his eyes and they adjusted to the bright lights in his room he inspected his body. Unsurprisingly he felt a little sore, and he noticed a cut or two from some of the debris, but nothing major, which made him wonder why they were in a hospital. Looking to his right he noticed Gamora was sitting in the room in a chair beside him. Rocket’s first instinct was to question why she was in his hospital room and not Peter’s. Gamora noticed Rocket looking around and gave a slight grin and nod as he turned and looked toward her, 

 

“Rocket, you’re awake, good.” She greeted arms crossed casually leaning back in her chair. 

 

Despite trying hard to find other words to say, Rocket couldn’t help the words that came out of his mouth next. 

 

“Why are you staying in my room with me? Not that I don’t appreciate the company Gams, its just I expected you’d be with Peter.” Rocket didn’t know why, but saying that last part aloud caused his chest to hurt a bit, but he shrugged it off now was not the time nor place to sort that stuff out. Gamora’s smile turned quickly to a more serious, even kind of stern look, “Actually it’s because of Peter that I'm here with you Rocket, I need to have a talk.” Rocket was baffled and had no idea of how to respond to Gamora’s sudden statement 

 

‘What does that Star-Dork have to do with me that concerns Gamora?’, he thought to himself. Gamora noted due to the long pause that Rocket was likely clueless to what she means so she decided to continue, 

 

“I noticed the way you reacted at Peter wrapping his arm around me yesterday. You’ve been kinda acting weird around Peter since our last mission when we got separated from you guys and Peter got taken out, so care to explain?”

 

Rocket was now fuming he still had no idea what any of this all was himself yet, and here Gamora was giving him the third degree about it. 

 

“Flark off... I know just about as much about what all this means as you do…. “ Rocket spat out when referencing this still very hard topic. Gamora was initially taken aback by Rocket’s response, deciding to tread with caution she chose her next words carefully, 

 

“Look Rocket we all know you care about us even if you are too stubborn to outright say it, but did you ever stop to think that you may care about Peter in a more powerful way, that maybe you lo-” Rocket had just about enough of what she was suggesting when he cut her off, 

 

“That is Flarking ridiculous Gams do you even hear yourself? Me in love with Star-Dork? And even…..” Rocket paused allowing himself to briefly even ponder this idea. 

 

“Even if I hypothetically did develop romantic feelings toward our great and fearless leader, what makes you think it’s even worth thinking about? If I did develop these so-called feelings I should just do my best to repress them because For one… He is so into you, and for another thing I’m…. I.m…” Rocket once again broke his statement this time choking on his emotions, 

 

“I’m THIS!” Rocket all, but yelled gesturing down to his body before storming out of his hospital room leaving Gamora in shock while trying to fight back the emotion beginning to well up behind his eyes from that outburst. 

 

When Rocket finally stopped running and cooled off he took a look around at his surroundings he had no idea where in the hospital he even ended up, “How ridiculous could Gamora be I’d be a fool to let myself develop that kind of an attachment to anyone, especially a terran like Quill..” Rocket muttered. Rocket then asked a passing nurse to point him towards Quill’s room. 

 

Entering the room he noticed Quill definitely looked worse than him, though still not the worst it could be. Peter’s cuts were longer and deeper likely due to taking the brunt of the explosion and unlike Rocket Peter was still unconscious and was hooked up to some equipment monitoring his heartbeat and an iv drip. Rocket sighed heavily as he approached the bed with his still unconscious captain laying on it. Rocket spied Peter’s jacket hanging on the nearby chair and decided to check it out. Upon rummaging through the pockets Rocket was shocked to find Peter’s walkman completely trashed. 

 

“Well, at least this gives me something to work on…” Rocket muttered to himself as he grabbed the broken bits of the walkman and exited Peter’s room giving the unconscious man one last glance before going to see about checking himself out of the hospital so he can begin his work. 

 

After much convincing, and yelling… Mostly yelling. Rocket finally was cleared to leave and made his way back to the Milano that was still docked in the hanger. Upon entering his room aboard the Milano Rocket greeted Groot in his planter with a small wave, 

 

“Hey buddy, I’m gonna be pretty busy for the next couple days working on a project okay?” Rocket said to groot as he walked over to his table and dropped the broken components of the walkman onto it. 

 

“I am Groot?” Groot responded. 

 

“When I went and checked on Quill I noticed his stupid walkman thing was busted from the mission when we got caught up in an explosion, so I figured the least I could do is try and repair it for the dork.” Rocket grumbled in response to Groot’s question. Groot was satisfied with this answer for now having his own ideas of what was really going on, but decided best to not push further knowing how Rocket would likely just put up a mental and emotional wall between them if that subject was breached at this time so Groot decided to just let his friend begin his work.

 

Rocket began a closer inspection of the broken device that lay before him on the table, after thoroughly inspecting the crushed hunk of machinery that used to be the source of Quill’s music Rocket deemed that it was in fact too far gone to be properly repaired, seeing as how some of the parts would be too old to find replacements for. That of course didn’t mean Rocket was giving up that easily, Rocket grabbed a holo-pad nearby and began sketching out plans for a replacement. Once he was satisfied with the plans he put together Rocket propped the schematic up and began his work.


	4. Chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn I've been on a roll waiting to hear what Fathers Day plans are so I've just been writing away and since I have no impulse control I just post these as I finish them so I hope you lovelies enjoy

Rocket woke up at the workbench having fallen asleep while working on his gift for Peter. As Rocket rubbed the sleep from his eyes he heard a subtle knock on his door. 

 

“Rocket, please can we talk?” Gamora’s voice came from the other side of the door. After how the conversation was left yesterday Rocket was by no means ready to speak with her again. 

 

“Go away…” Rocket growled as he brushed out the fur on his cheek that got smushed from the way he was laying.

 

“Come on Rocket… I didn’t even get a chance to tell you what I had to say… and furthermore we are a family we need to be able to talk things out, not shut each other out… I know you are used to only having Groot, but it isn’t like that anymore.” Rocket winced at Gamora’s words, internally he knew she only cared and wanted to help, but that didn’t make the topic she wanted to discuss any easier on him. 

With a heavy audible sigh Rocket decided that he may as well get this over with because he knows this will continue until everything is cleared up. Rocket made his way over to his door and opened it so see gamora leaned against the wall turning her face to meet his with an apologetic look before speaking. 

 

“Rocket… I’m sorry for how forward I was with my assumptions yesterday, I realize you are still sorting out your emotions and it was sudden of me to suggest the L word so suddenly, that being said I feel I should inform you of something that you falsely listed as a reason why Peter couldn’t return your hypothetical feelings.” Gamora said before pausing and allowing Rocket to process her words before continuing only when Rocket gestured for her to do so not trusting his own words just yet.

 

“Okay so, you stated that even if you did end up developing feelings for Peter that he couldn’t possibly return them because he wants me right? Well you left before I could inform you that Peter and I have agreed to stay just friends and that there would be no romantic advancements involved.” Gamora finished. Rocket was now at a loss for words, 

‘I was certain Quill was after Gamora, now that I know he isn’t I’m curious what made him decide otherwise’ Rocket mentally discussed before looking back up at Gamora. 

 

“That’s all fine and good Gams, but… and of course all this talk is still hypothetical..” Rocket paused. 

 

“Oh of course totally hypothetical Rocket I understand that there is no logical way for this to actually happen.” Gamora said feigning agreement she decided it best to play along with Rocket refusing to admit the obvious for a while longer hoping he would eventually come to the realization himself as stating it herself would likely just get him to shut down on her again.

 

“Even if what you just informed me is true and Quill is open for the taking, there’s still the problem of me, I’m this little monster that no one could ever love in that way, yes I know we are a family and we all share that level of a bond, but for someone to love something like me…. Romantically I mean, well thats just absurd.” Rocket said sounding unusually defeated.

 

“Now Rocket, you know that isn’t true, especially to anyone in this crew. You are no less a person than me, Drax, Groot, or Quill and surely you must know Peter of all people definitely sees you as such. True he may mess with you and call you a Raccoon every now and then, but if you stopped and really thought about it you’d realize he’s saying it not to be mean, but out of humor and because he doesn’t see you truly any differently.” Rocket took a few moments to really take in Gamora’s words. Gamora was right and Rocket knew it outside of the initial hostility when they first met Peter never once truly treated Rocket with any sort of negativity and even helped in his own small ways to care for groot as he recovers. Rocket would also admit that initial hostility between him and Peter wasn’t helped when their first interaction was him stunning Peter and shoving him in a sack.

 

“Plus, and don’t take this the wrong way Rocket, but I’m sure in Peter’s escapades through the galaxy he’s laid with beings, much, much more foreign or alien to him than you. You never know there is always stranger places one may find love.” and with that Gamora left Rocket alone once again with his thoughts.

Rocket sat on his bed, and mentally went over everything that happened he has been super protective of Peter as of late, looking back he also recognized his reaction to that moment with Gamora was indeed an act of jealousy, and as soon as he calmed down at the hospital Rocket’s first instinct was to check on Peter. On top of it all he fell asleep working on a replacement for Peter’s walkman.

 

“Would it truly be the worst thing in the world if I was in love with Peter?” Rocket mused aloud partially to hear himself say it and see how his body reacted to actually hearing the idea verbally spoken. To Rocket’s surprise he felt a sudden warm comfortable feeling fill his body, and if you asked the Rocket from twenty minutes ago he would say this was a terrible sign, but in this moment Rocket couldn’t help, but smile as a weight felt like it was lifted now that he had been able to understand what it was he’s been feeling. Rocket didn’t know if Peter would feel the same, but he decided he could worry about it later, and instead decided to return to his project with renewed vigor. 

 

Rocket used his pad to pull up and play some of the songs he knew Peter had on his tapes and began humming along while he worked. Gamora was still seated right outside Rocket’s door as she heard his audible question about loving Peter being all that bad and then smiled to herself as she heard Rocket humming along to Peter’s music. Content with the outcome so far, Gamora decided it was best to return to the hospital and check on the status of Peter.

Hearing the familiar songs that Peter would play for him Groot roused from his sleep. 

 

“I...Am Groot?...” he said sleepily. Rocket turned to face Groot with a smile still tracing his face, 

“Nope it ain’t Peter buddy I’m just listening to his tunes while I work on his gift.” Rocket said sounding unusually chipper today a point that groot was quick to notice. 

 

“I am Grooot?” Groot asked in a more sing song type tone. Rocket prior to this morning would have been quick to shut down the suggestion his friend just made, but for the first time, and because it was just him and Groot he allowed himself to admit it,

 

“Yes I love Peter, don’t know how or why or when it truly started, but I do you happy now ya got that outta me?” Groot grinned and nodded before returning to dancing to the music. Rocket simply rolled his eyes and went back to work.


	5. Chapter five

Rocket had been unaware of how many hours had passed while he was hard at work, but he assumed he’d been there for quite a while as the playlist of songs had begun it’s third loop. Deciding he should take a break he put the new music device he was working on down on the table and made his way out the door, making sure to leave the music on for Groot as he shut the door behind him.As he exited the Milano he passed by Drax and Gamora who were out doing one of their sparring sessions. 

 

‘Those two just don’t know when to take it easy do they?’ Rocket chuckled to himself waving to the two as he passed by only turning away after they got the chance to return the greeting. Rocket eventually found himself outside of the hospital. Walking in he greeted the receptionist who responded with a kind greeting despite the less than friendly way Rocket had interacted with her when he attempted checking out of the hospital just a day ago. Making his way through the hallways of the hospital Rocket eventually made his way to Peter’s room. Entering the room Rocket’s face flashed a bit of sadness seeing Peter still having not woken up. Rocket hopped up into the chair that sat beside the bed so he could be level with Peter. Rocket sat merely in silence beside Peter for a few moments before placing his hand on one of Peter’s, 

 

“Okay Pete I know you can’t hear me, which honestly helps with what I’m about to say because to be honest I’m not entirely sure I’d be ready to say this to your face…” Rocket took a deep breath before continuing. 

“Here it goes….. I don’t know how it happened, but Gamora helped me realize I may sorta kinda love you, and I don’t even know if you would ever love me back, and I guess that’s why I wanted to desperately to believe that what I was feeling wasn’t love because I don’t believe you would return my feelings, but now I can’t deny how I feel and well yeah I guess that’s it…” Rocket stared down at the sleeping form of Peter for a moment more before hopping back down to the floor. 

“Now wake the flark up soon you dork so I can try and say all of that again to your face and hope you don’t reject me too hard..” Rocket said as he exited the room and then the hospital. Once the coast was clear Gamora walked into Peter’s hospital room and sat in the chair that moments before was occupied by Rocket.  
“I was wondering when he’d come and do that.” Gamora said as she sat down in the chair. Peter opened his eyes and turned to look over at Gamora.   
“I normally would never have done something like that to Rocket, but he said it himself saying it to me believing I couldn’t hear him was the only way he could gather the courage to say it for now…” Gamora nodded, both her and Peter knew Rocket too well and knew he wasn’t always easy with expressing emotions, especially ones as difficult to process as his feelings for Peter. It was Gamora’s idea actually. 

\------------------------Flashback after Gamora’s conversation with Rocket--------------------  
After mentally patting herself on the back for completing step one of her plan and getting Rocket to admit at least to himself that he loves Peter, Gamora decided to go check on Peter. Upon entering Peter’s room she was surprised and overjoyed to see that Peter was in fact awake.

 

“Peter, you’re awake thank goodness.” She greeted as Peter turned to face Gamora with a smile, 

“and how long has the universe gone without the presence of the great Star-Lord?” Peter joked.

“You’ve been out cold for about two days after the incident at the Kyln.” Peter frowned remembering the explosion as the mystery assailant had shot the canisters containing the fuel. 

“What about the others? How are they doing?” Peter asked concern evident on his face. Gamora then smiled to help calm Peter down as she spoke, 

“Drax and I were fine we hit the ground a bit hard from the force of the explosion and had been knocked unconscious for a few hours, you and Rocket took the most of it, Rocket woke up just yesterday, he had a few bruises and scrapes nothing too terrible… He then proceeded to give the poor lady at the front desk hell until they finally discharged him.” Gamora explained causing Peter to enter a short fit of laughter knowing he missed Rocket tearing the poor receptionist a new one in his anger fueled attempt to get out of the hospital.

 

“Peter, actually I need to talk to you about Rocket…you notice how he’s been acting kinda strange recently?” Peter nodded, but assumed Gamora had more to say so he opted to stay silent. 

“Well turns out, and obviously I shouldn’t be telling you this, but we know Rocket and he would take forever to say this to you, if he ever would, Peter Rocket loves you, he doesn’t know when or how or why it started, but he definitely has feelings for you.” Peter used all his strength to keep his jaw from going slack at this revelation Gamora was presenting him. 

“Are you serious Gams?” Gamora nodded and then continued explaining everything, 

“Rocket actually was fighting to repress and ignore those feelings and what they are because he felt he knew there would be no way you would ever love him back.” Peter was dumbfounded he never in a million years would have expected Rocket of all the beings in the universe to be in love with him, he of course isn’t complaining, just more in shock since Rocket always seemed to be annoyed with him in some form and never really seemed like he was exactly, interested. 

“Why would Rocket be so quick to think that?” Peter simply asked still shaking off the shock from this new development. 

“Rocket thinks that his appearance would be too off putting for you to consider him an attractive love interest, that and he believed that you were still trying to get with me.” Gamora explained the points Rocket had made vividly clear to her during her first attempt confronting him on the topic.

“That’s ridiculous I’ve been with beings that were honestly far less attractive than Rocket, not to mention he actually is quite handsome now that I really think about it, and besides I don’t see a raccoon when I look at him I see a person.” Gamora nodded, 

“and that is exactly what I told him, but he still seems unsure of himself, so I have a plan…”   
\-----------------------------------------end flashback--------------------------------------  
“Do you realize how hard it is to fake being unconscious Gams? Especially when that entire time all I wanted to do was pull Rocket to me and tell him I feel the same?” Peter said as he sat up.

“I know Peter I know, but it was necessary, but if you’d like I can go let Rocket know you are awake now and see what happens.” Peter nodded and Gamora took her leave to go inform Rocket that Peter is awake.


	6. Chapter 6

Rocket felt his heart pound a bit when Gamora told him the news that Peter was awake. 

 

‘But I’m still not sure I’m ready to properly tell Peter how I feel yet… I still should go meet him, after all I have to give him his gift.’ Rocket thought as Gamora was waiting for his response. Looking back up at Gamora’s face jolted Rocket back into reality and he simply gave a nod, 

 

“Tell Star-dork I’ll be right in I just have to grab something real fast.” with that Gamora exited Rocket’s quarters and shut the door behind her. Rocket rushed over to his workstation and put a few finishing touches onto the device he had been working on since the accident, Rocket then placed it in a nice box he had laying around and took some string and tied it neatly around the box to hold the lid in place. Rocket walked over to Groot to let him know he was heading out again before exiting his quarters and heading down to the hospital. Every step Rocket took on his way to the hospital filled his heart with warmth, and sent his heart into flips,

 

“I hope Pete likes this, I’m sure he will, but I can’t wait to give it to him…” Rocket said to himself quietly under his breath. Entering the hospital he made his usual route of greeting the receptionist and a couple nurses before striding his way into Peter’s room. As he reached the door to Peter’s hospital room he suddenly froze with his hand on the door handle. It had just hit Rocket that this wouldn’t be like his many previous visits to Peter, this time Peter would be awake and aware of anything and everything Rocket says or does and Rocket suddenly felt nervous, 

‘You are setting yourself up for disappointment…’ his mind began to tell him, ‘It’s not gonna go how you want it to, it’s impossible.’ Rocket began shaking his head trying to remove these thoughts before they could cause him to fuck things up. Just as Rocket was about to succumb to these thoughts building in his brain the door opened with Gamora noticing Rocket at the door, 

“Oh Rocket, you made it I was just leaving, Peter’s all yours.” Gamora said sliding passed Rocket who hadn’t managed to utter a single word, but not due to his inner turmoil. The source of Rocket’s sudden inability to form words was seeing Peter awake turning to face Rocket a wide smile growing on his face, and those eyes, Rocket hadn’t noticed before just how nice Peter’s blue eyes were. 

 

“Rocket, hello? Is anyone there?” Peter’s voice finally registered in Rocket’s head pulling him from his thoughts. 

 

“Oh uh…. Yeah sorry kinda spaced out there for a second.” Rocket said making his way into the room, closing the door behind him holding the gift behind his back. 

“I’m glad you are back with us Quill, after all you may be a dork, but you’re still our captain.” Rocket said with a nervous chuckle. Peter wasn’t completely listening to what Rocket said as his focus was on what Rocket could be hiding behind his back, 

 

“Rocket what do you have there?” Rocket slowly pulled the box from behind him and lifted it up so Peter could grab it. 

 

“I uh well when I came to visit you the first time, I noticed your walkman got destroyed in the explosion and well I made you a little something.” Rocket said avoiding eye contact with Peter. Peter took the gift in his hands admiring the amount of care Rocket took with everything even the packaging, Peter was very flattered that Rocket would do all of this for him and gently began pulling an end of the string allowing the knot to easily come undone before sliding the box open. Peering inside the box Peter found a small rectangular object made of a silver metal, down the center was a touch screen display, pressing the power button caused the screen to come on and Peter began sliding his finger across the screen to find Rocket had backed up all of his songs from his tapes onto this new music player. Peter honestly felt touched at how much effort Rocket had put into making such a wonderful gift for him it took all he had not to tear up as he looked back at Rocket with a huge smile, 

 

“Rocket… I don’t know what to say man thank you so much for this you really are the best.” Rocket thankful for his fur hiding his blush at the praise looked back up to Peter and began explaining what he had made. 

 

“Well when I first grabbed your damaged walkman my initial plan was just to repair it, but upon further inspection I realized it would be too difficult to repair as the parts are likely too old that even if I took a trip to terra itself to get new parts they likely wouldn’t have them anymore so I used the remains of it as the basis for understanding how the device works and drew up a schematic for this new device, and whats better is I can sync that device up to my holopad and I can actually connect to Terran music libraries and find you some more modern stuff should you ever want to expand your collection I can digitally add new songs anytime.” Rocket said with a proud smile at his hard work over the past two days. Hearing Rocket explain how Peter essentially can have all of the music from his homeworld at his fingertips now left him utterly surprised, 

 

“Rocket you really went above and beyond I really can’t thank you enough, come on up here real quick.” Peter said patting the bed next to him. Rocket hesitated briefly, but decided to oblige and so he climbed up and sat next to Peter. Peter’s next course of action admittedly caught Rocket quite by surprise, before Rocket could register what happened Peter had enveloped him in a warm tight hug and Rocket briefly allowed himself to bury his face into Peter’s neck to take in his scent. 

 

“Thank you so much Rocket, this means the absolute world to me, and I know I’m saying thank you a lot, but I’m just so thankful to have such a great person like you in my life, and that you gave me such a great gift..” Rocket felt the warmth in his heart now flood his entire body 

 

‘Should I chance it? Should I use this as my opportunity?’ Rocket thought to himself. 

 

“Pete…. I…” Rocket pulled back as he said that to look Peter in the eyes. Peter grew excited hoping Rocket was going to say what he’d been waiting to officially hear this whole time as he locked eyes with Rocket’s Peter got lost in the amber pools of Rocket’s eyes, 

‘ has he always been this handsome?’Peter thought to himself. 

 

“I…” Rocket stuttered, ‘Are you really going to make yourself vulnerable like this? What will you do if he says no?’ Rocket panicked as the voices in his head returned,

 

“I’m sorry I gotta go…” Rocket said solemnly as he hopped down and ran out the door and back toward the direction of the Milano. 

 

“Rocket… wait!” Peter called out as Rocket turned the corner, but Rocket only felt more pain as Peter’s voice met his ears causing him to pick up speed. Peter now sat alone in his bed feeling sad, and worried for Rocket he didn’t pretend to understand everything about Rocket, but he wished whatever was keeping Rocket from being honest with Peter could go away, he wanted to hold Rocket close and help Rocket break down these walls that the years of near solitude save for groot had forced him to put up. For now though Peter simply let out a defeated sigh as he looked down at the music player in his hand before contacting a nurse to see about getting discharged. As Rocket made his way back aboard the Milano Gamora attempted greeting him from the cockpit,

 

“Hey Rocket how’d it-” Gamora couldn’t finish her statement before Rocket, without a word ran right by her and into his room locking the door behind him.

 

“....go….” Gamora silently finished her statement. She wanted to find out what happened, but decided Rocket could use a few minutes to himself, so she decided she would check with Peter to get what information she could. As Rocket had locked his door he angrily threw himself against the door and slid to the floor throwing his face into his hands as he allowed his emotions to finally come out as he knew no one except groot would be able to witness his moment of weakness. A few moments passed and the muffled sounds of sobs could be heard coming from Rocket as his shoulders shook from each sob. 

 

“Why, why does it have to be so hard… why did it have to be Peter I fell in love with…. And why do I let these damn thoughts get in the way... I’m pathetic…” Rocket grumbled to himself as he tried to bring the sobbing to a stop, so that he can think through what to do next. Meanwhile Gamora had just got to the hospital as Peter had finished getting checked out, 

 

“Hey Gams…” Peter said still affected by the way things were left between him and Rocket. 

 

“Pete I just saw Rocket run into the Milano and lock himself in his room, I decided I would come ask you about what happened before going to him because I figured whatever happened Rocket probably needed to be alone right now.” Gamora said which only caused Peter to frown, 

 

“Honestly Gams I have no idea things were going great he gave me a really nice gift,” Peter said showing off and briefly explaining the new music player Rocket made for him. 

 

“Then I pulled him in for a hug and he seemed to be getting ready to tell me how he felt before something seemed to stop him and he ran away…” Peter said holding the music player firmly to his chest. 

 

“I just hope Rocket doesn’t do anything drastic or beat himself up over this… I know we agreed we need to let him make the first move on this, but I’m just not sure how much longer I can watch my best friend in pain because of his feelings for me, feelings that after I saw him today I definitely know are reciprocated…” Gamora nodded her understanding, 

 

“We will head back to the ship and you can try to get through to Rocket even if it means being the first one to admit your feelings instead of him doing so first.” without another word, the two began a rather silent and heavy walk back to the Milano. Just before entering the Milano the pair were stopped by Drax who was outside the Milano practicing a few moves with his knives before stopping when he noticed Quill and Gamora, 

 

“Ah Quill it is good to see you back up and moving my friend!” Drax said with a smile. 

 

“Thanks Drax, glad to see you are doing well also.” Peter said. 

 

“The explosion barely reached me and Gamora, you and Rocket did take the most of it.” Drax stated. 

 

“Yes so I have heard from Gamora when I woke up, anyways I’ll catch up with you later, for now I have to speak with Rocket.” Peter proceeded inside the ship while Gamora decided to stay outside and practice with Drax to give him someone to practice on other than thin air. Peter made his way over to Rocket’s door and knocked, 

 

“Rocket, bud you in there?” Peter asked. Rocket’s ears twitched as he heard the knock, 

 

‘Don’t be Peter, Don’t. Be. Peter…’ Rocket repeated to himself before visibly wincing as Peter’s voice called out to him. Rocket first tried the silent treatment to see if that would get Peter to go away, but of course Rocket should have known better than to test Quill’s persistence when Peter is determined on something especially if it has to do with his friends Peter can have the patience of a rock. 

 

“Fine if you aren’t gonna talk then just listen… I don’t know what stopped you from saying whatever it is you wanted to say to me back at the hospital, but I want you to know I care so much about you Rocket… and I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide something from me, you can trust me Rocket I thought you would know that by now…” The sadness in Peter’s tone mixed with tinges of defeat stabbed into Rocket like a knife. 

 

‘He’s hurting because of me… and he thinks I don’t trust him? I trust that dork with my life, maybe I don’t tell him that enough, I do usually kinda brush him off and now I run out on him… He’d have every reason to hate me right now, so…. So why is he still talking to me?...’ Rocket began to think, but decided to first give Peter at least some sort of a response, 

 

“Star-Dork I do trust you, if I didn’t I wouldn’t still be fighting by your side to save this damn galaxy.” Rocket replied attempting to sound snarky, but even Peter could still hear the traces of the sobs and hiccups from Rocket’s earlier breakdown. 

 

“Then why can’t you tell me what you wanted to say to me? What is stopping you?” Peter’s next question was met with the door sliding open and Rocket staring up at him fur on his face a bit messy and the patches of fur under his eyes still wet from the tears. 

 

“Because…. Because I’m afraid of what might happen okay? I’m afraid that if I tell you the truth, if I make myself vulnerable I’ll just be opening up to get hurt, and lose the only family I’ve ever known in the process!” Rocket said in a slightly raised voice as his emotions were still running high. 

 

“Rocket nothing you could ever say to me could ever make me hate you or kick you off the ship, especially not after you put all that work into replacing my walkman for me…” Peter said saddened to see the traces of tears on Rocket’s face.

 

“Easy for you to say, you aren’t the one with the flarked up feelings running through them right now…” Rocket said trying his best to calm down at least a little bit. 

 

“You sure? You never know until you try Rocket.” Peter said trying his best to comfort Rocket with his words and a warm caring grin. Rocket sighed knowing full well there would be no getting out of it this time he looked down unable to meet Peter’s gaze, 

 

“I…. I love you Peter I don’t know how or why, but as messed up as it is I fell in love with you… and I know it's wrong I know you could never love something as messed up as me… so if you want, I'll just get my stuff and me and groot will leave first thing tomorrow…” Rocket finally allowed himself to say out loud to Peter what he’d been wanting to say for the longest time, and instead of relief Rocket prepared himself for rejection, to be told to get the hell out, any number of outcomes began playing through in Rocket’s head. 

 

What Rocket wasn’t prepared for was to feel Peter’s hands grab him by the waist and pull him up to be face to face as he placed a finger under Rocket’s chin making Rocket meet his gaze. Without a word Peter did something Rocket really hadn’t expected and placed his lips over his own and engaging in a gentle yet loving kiss. The sensation Rocket felt from actually feeling Peter’s lips kissing his caused his brain to explode with emotions and thoughts Rocket couldn’t think straight in this moment too stunned at what was happening. Peter then slowly broke away from the small kiss and smiled staring deep into Rocket’s eyes that were still recovering from shock. 

 

“Rocket, I love you too and I don’t care what you think you are to me you are perfect, sure things will be different, but we will make things work because I love you and want nothing more than to be with you and make you happy.” Rocket finally coming to his senses was overjoyed at what he heard he couldn’t believe it the man he loved, loved him back despite who and what he was,

 

”Really Pete? You really mean it?” was all Rocket could say, 

 

“Yep I wouldn’t lie to you especially about something this important, now…” Peter paused briefly to give Rocket a more romantic look, “Think you could spare a night to stay in the captain’s room tonight?” Peter said in a soft tone as he placed another kiss to Rocket’s cheek. Rocket briefly turned to groot who gave him a thumbs up with a nod suggesting he wanted Rocket to spend the night with Peter. Turning back to face Peter Rocket smiled wider than he probably ever has in his entire life, 

 

“of course I’d love to stay with you tonight.” Rocket replied and without needing any more convincing Peter carried Rocket off to his room and laid him down on the bed before laying next to him. Peter pressed his lips to Rocket’s forehead as he held his new partner close, 

 

“So what do you think? first thing tomorrow we call a team meeting and tell everyone?” Peter said and Rocket could tell the excitement in his tone Rocket knew that by tell everyone this more meant telling Drax, as Gamora already knew, and obviously Groot witnessed it, so two of the three already kinda knew so Rocket was perfectly okay with this plan, 

 

“You got it baby-boo first thing tomorrow, for now let's get some sleep.” Peter blushed at the sudden new nickname before nodding in agreement and turning on his new music player he decided to play some music to help them drift off to sleep, as the couple slid under the blankets Rocket pulled himself close to Peter and buried his face in his chest, 

 

“I love you Peter”, 

 

“I love you two Rocket” and with that last exchange Peter and Rocket allowed sleep to claim them as they laid in each others arms and Peter hummed comfortingly along to the song playing which only made Rocket fall asleep faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I spent a lot of extra time on this chapter because I really wanted to make it as good as I could it's also about twice as long as my usual chapters I hope you enjoy


	7. Chapter seven

The next morning Rocket awoke to a sight he still wasn’t used to, and part of him still believed this to be all just an elaborate really long dream. Here he was laying in Peter’s bed said man, and recently the love of Rocket’s life laying soundly asleep arm slung over Rocket holding him close. Rocket couldn’t fully place this pleasant feeling that he felt being in Peter’s arms, Rocket knew it partially had to do with how much he loved Peter, but there was something more, something much deeper. Rocket felt a new kind of safety and security in life now that he had Peter. Rocket would have never assumed that being so emotionally vulnerable with someone would have led to such a safe feeling. 

 

“Mmmh Good morning Rocket~” Peter’s sleepy voice roused Rocket from his thoughts as he rolled over on his other side to face Peter with a smile, 

 

“Morning Baby-boo, how’d ya sleep?” Rocket asked with a grin. 

 

“Best sleep I have had in ages, and I think I know just who to thank for that..” Peter said sweetly before leaning into kiss Rocket, with Rocket returning the kiss as he caressed Peter’s back, 

 

‘Damn’ Rocket thought to himself, ‘This is so amazing it's actually indescribable.’ after what felt like an eternity and at the same time, no time at all Peter pulled away from the embrace. Peter slid out of bed and began getting dressed in some fresh clothes, 

 

“So you ready to break the news to the others?” he asked turning back to Rocket who was still laying in bed not wanting to leave the current moment enjoying the feeling of everything that has happened over the course of the night before,

 

“hmmm sure, as much as I feel like just laying here in my new boyfriend’s bed all day we do need to actually get up I guess.” and with that Rocket joined Peter in getting ready for the day as he used his hands to brush out the fur in his face that got bunched up while he slept. Once the pair had felt adequately presentable they opened the door as quietly as possible so that maybe no one would notice Rocket leaving Peter’s room at least before they get the chance to call the team meeting. Rocket went to his room to grab Groot and bring him to the cockpit while Peter went and informed Drax and Gamora of the surprise meeting. Once everyone was gathered around Peter and Rocket stood up in front of the other three guardians,

 

“So what is the meaning of this meeting Quill?” Drax asked being the only guardian to not already know or have an idea what everything is about, while Groot and Gamora just sat there wearing knowing smiles.

 

“Well I called you all here today because well Rocket and I had a talk last night and we kinda discovered that we both have fallen in love with each other.” As peter said this Rocket climbed up and stood on Peter’s shoulder as he used to do with Groot. This position on Peter’s shoulder afforded Rocket the perfect access to give Peter a quick peck on the cheek as if to accentuate Peter’s announcement. 

 

“Well as long as the two of you are happy, this changes nothing you two are still great friends and comrades” Drax said in his usual formal straight to the point manner, 

 

“Thanks Drax.” Peter replied. Groot gave his signature thumbs up to Rocket, 

 

“Thanks buddy” Rocket responded with a smile. Gamora was the last to respond, she got up from where she was seated and walked over to the couple, 

 

“It’s about time, I was getting sick of playing matchmaker for the two of you idiots…” Gamora said still smiling with joy for her two friends. 

 

“Yeah we already kinda knew you and Groot knew, this was more so just to make a public statement on it among the crew and to inform Drax” Peter said whispering the last part so that Drax didn't hear it. After a few more congratulations were exchanged and questions of how it happened were asked the small celebration was cut short as the communications system onboard the milano began ringing as Peter hit a button Nova Prime’s face appeared via holo-screen. 

 

“Good morning Guardians, now that you are all rested and recovered, I would request that you report to my office to discuss some important matters regarding the incident at the Kyln.” Nova Prime said after greeting the group in her usual cordial manner. 

 

“Sure thing Nova Prime me and the crew will be up momentarily.” and with a single approving nod Nova Prime ended the call. 

 

“Wonder what Nova Prime found out that   
requires our attention.” Rocket muttered as he and the other guardians exited the Milano and made their way to the Nova Corps HQ. Once all the guardians had made in into the office room of Nova Prime and the door was shut behind them Nova Prime began explaining what it was that had her call them in, 

 

“So the attackers, the men who impersonated Nova Corps officers, were in fact Skrulls, an alien race who can shapeshift into the appearance of another being at will, we found the officers they impersonated knocked unconscious tucked away somewhere in the hangar.” everyone of the guardians appeared surprised, except Rocket who just sat there mentally beating himself, 

 

“I knew it… I knew something felt off about the officers in the cabin with me… I just chalked it up to being uneasy about being that close to a nova officer, given my well less than positive history with the law…” Rocket trailed off looking absolutely annoyed with himself, 

 

“If I had recognized why they seemed off sooner I could have-” Rocket was about to finish his statement, but Peter cut him off he didn’t like seeing Rocket beat himself up over something like this, 

 

“How would you have been able to know Rocket? And besides, things could have been a lot worse if we had confronted them while still aboard the ship, if the fuel had gone off while on the ship we would have likely been jettisoned into space at least it happened while we were aboard the Kyln so we escaped the incident with a few bumps and bruises.” Peter said as he stared into Rockets eyes not breaking eye contact until he saw his boyfriend relax and nod, 

 

“Thanks Pete…” was all Rocket said before they returned their attention to Nova Prime, 

 

“Right well this doesn’t appear to be something planned or approved of by the Skrull as a whole, but rather actions by a small group of skrulls acting independently so we will monitor the situation, but for now no further action on your part is necessary, but I ask that you keep a look out for anyone who may be acting out of character as we have no idea this groups’ numbers or what if any end goal they have.” The guardians all nodded and bid Nova Prime farewell before heading back to the Milano. 

 

The group agreed before heading out of the Nova HQ that not one word about what was discussed with Nova Prime would be discussed outside of Nova Prime’s office, or the privacy of the Milano as they knew Nova Prime was right these rogue Skrull could be anywhere and anyone and the less the guardians appeared to know the better off they would likely be for the time being. Once the Milano was secured Peter had the crew gather up, 

 

“Okay , so I feel the best plan of action is to act normal, go about our day normally and act like nothing is different, actively trying to seek out the Skrull would only call attention to ourselves and make us a bigger target so as far as our actions off this ship go, just pretend like we didn’t even have that meeting with Nova Prime alright?” Peter said giving his orders to the crew to lay low until the Nova Corps has any further leads for them. The entire group nodded before dispersing and returning to their individual daily activities. Rocket and Peter returned to Peter’s room after Rocket brought Groot back to his room and the two hopped back on the bed with Rocket sitting in Peters lap and Peter had his arms gently around Rocket’ waist. 

 

“Thanks a lot for earlier Pete, I needed it… you talked me out of the anger I felt for myself at the moment, I didn’t even realize how stupid it would have been had I acted any earlier than I did, I guess I was just still mad at those assholes for what they did especially since you took the worst of that explosion…” Peter leaned his head down and nuzzled Rocket’s head and kissed it. 

 

“I know Rocket and if something happened to you I would act the same way, I just couldn’t bear to see you beat yourself up over what happened like I said it wasn’t anyone’s fault that's what Skrulls excel at is infiltration by assuming the form of someone trusted and you said it yourself the Nova officer being there already had you a bit on edge so it messed with your ability to discern that something was off as it naturally felt off to you.” Peter responded as his embrace on his boyfriend grew tighter holding him closer to comfort Rocket. 

 

“You’re right Pete I know you are.” Rocket replied which earned a fake gasp of shock from Peter, 

 

“The world must be ending the great Rocket, has admitted that Star-lord was right about something, I must be dreaming.” Peter teased which caused Rocket to stand up and turn around to face Peter with a smirk before lightly punching his shoulder, 

 

“yeah well don’t get used to it, you’re still mostly a dork, but you do have your moments.” Peter chuckled as he pulled Rocket in for another kiss this time they both leaned much deeper into the embrace and Peter fell back on the bed Rocket on top of him. 

 

“Mhhhh so what do you think about this? You, Me, night out on the city of Xandar a nice date night since we have a bit of downtime?” Peter said resting his forehead against Rocket’s with a blissful smile as their lips separated. Rocket looked as if he was pondering the thought for a moment before returning the smile, 

 

“Sounds great Baby-boo.” Rocket said before climbing off of Peter and heading towards the door. 

 

“Where you going Rocky?” Peter said sounding a bit confused, this caused Rocket to chuckle. 

 

“Pete did you forget, I spent the night here, but all my stuff is still in my room across the hall, if we are going to go anywhere I need to go get ready.” Rocket said turning to look at Peter. 

 

“Right, yeah of course I forgot…” Peter said he actually had forgot that Rocket’s stuff was still in his room, a problem Peter hoped to rectify soon. Rocket simply shook his head at Peter’s forgetfulness and the couple parted ways to make preparations for their date night, and at the thought of it being a date both Rocket and Peter couldn’t help the warm smiles that grew on their faces. 

 

“Hey Groot buddy I’m gonna be out late tonight Peter’s taking me out for a date so I may end up leaving you with Gamora or Drax tonight if that's okay with you.” Groot nodded, 

 

“I am Groot” he replied. 

 

“Okay Gamora it is then I’ll check with her and see if she’s okay with it.” Rocket said before walking out down the hall over to Gamora’s room and knocked on her door. The door slid open and Gamora met Rocket with a smile seeing that Rocket had slightly brushed his fur and put on his nice Maroon jumpsuit that matched the same color of Peter’s jacket. 

 

“Well aren’t you looking nice Rocket what’s the occasion?” Rocket didn’t know quite how to respond to the compliment Gamora gave him as this was probably the first time in his life where he actually tried cleaning himself up for a date with, well anyone.

 

“Peter asked me if we could go have a date night since we have some downtime due to this whole Skrull dilemma keeping us here on Xandar for now, and I don’t know how late we may be back so I was wondering if you could watch Groot for me tonight.” Rocket explained. Gamora’s smile grew brighter as she heard the cause of Rocket looking so sharp tonight, 

 

‘Peter is really good for Rocket, and they are just adorable.’ She thought to herself before giving Rocket a nod. “Sure thing Rocket I’ll go get him as soon as you boys leave for the night.”

 

Rocket thanked Gamora and walked away towards Peter’s room again as Gamora bid him a good night. Arriving at Peter’s room Rocket knocked and Peter quickly made his way over and opened the door as he was very eager for this night with Rocket. Upon seeing Rocket with his fur on his head nicely styled as and his maroon jumpsuit that he hasn’t seen Rocket in since the battle with Ronan Peter could only manage a breathless, 

 

“Wow…” this reaction got Rocket to develop a somewhat cocky grin as he knew his look got Peter’s attention. 

 

“ What’s the matter Pete, am I too much for you? Or do you just like what you see too much?” Rocket teased before giving a small spin so Peter could get a full look. 

 

“Well truth be told you are always gorgeous to me, but yes you do look amazing tonight you don’t wear that suit enough red’s a good color on you.” Rocket took a moment to take in Peter’s look it almost looked as if Peter hadn’t changed at all. 

 

“Did you even do anything while I was gone besides comb your hair Pete?” Rocket asked. Peter pretended to look hurt, 

 

“How could you not tell Rocky? I’m wearing a nice black shirt as opposed to my usual grey one and I’m wearing a different pair of pants. This earned a sarcastic eye roll from Rocket, 

 

“Well lucky for you ya don’t need to do much to look good Baby-boo, now come on Pete I wanna see what kind of a night you have planned for us.” Rocket said as he let Peter lead the way out of the Milano and into the streets of Xandar.


	8. Chapter eight

They had been walking for only a few minutes before Rocket instinctually wanted to be closer to Peter so he had Peter stop briefly so he could get on Peter’s shoulder like he had done earlier that morning. Once Peter was certain Rocket was stable in his position on his shoulder Peter continued travelling the streets as he decided where he wanted to go with Rocket. Rocket picked up on how Peter seemed to have no clear sense of direction, 

 

“You don’t have a plan for tonight do you?” Rocket said with a chuckle. 

 

“Well my plan was to take you out for a nice evening, I didn’t plan out all the details because I figured we’d walk until we saw somewhere we may like.” Peter retorted as he continued to survey the surrounding area for an ideal place to stop for the night. 

 

“Okay, okay Pete that's actually not a bad idea I was just teasing ya.” Rocket said trying to be careful not to jab at Peter too hard tonight after all this was supposed to just be a nice romantic evening. 

 

“How about that place over there Rocky?” Peter said pointing out a small little restaurant tucked into a street corner, the place didn’t look super high end, but wasn’t a dingy little place either and upon Peter’s words Rocket’s stomach decided to speak to him and he had just realized how hungry he actually was. 

 

“Sure Pete sounds good.” Rocket’s words of agreement were all Peter needed before they made their way over to the restaurant. Upon entering the Restaurant the first thing Rocket noted was that the restaurant was considerably larger and more spacious than he and Peter initially assumed. If Rocket had to take a guess as to why the Restaurant was deceptively bigger once inside, it was likely that the rest of the restaurant was not visible from the view from the street and that the building actually extended back and then expanded. The whole room was dimly lit, just enough that diners could see everything, but dim enough to set a mood. The walls were silver with the floor covered in a nice red carpet. Rocket and Peter both shared a concerned look as they suddenly feel they may have misjudged the sophistication level of the restaurant. Before their nerves could get the best of them and get them to walk back out the door a lady walked over to them and greeted them,

 

“hello there welcome, how many?” the woman said, she was dressed in a nice black pantsuit and had short blond hair, her facial expression seemed friendly, yet professional with a small smile but her hands clasped behind her back with straight back. Peter attempted a nervous smile as he still felt so out of place and underdressed now, 

 

“table for two tonight please.” The woman nodded and began leading them to their table. Once they reached the table Rocket got off Peter and they each took their seats adjacent from each other.

 

“Your server will be with you momentarily.” The woman said curtly before turning and walking away.

 

“So uh fancy place huh?” Rocket was the first to speak a bit of a nervous chuckle underlining his words as he fidgeted in his seat a bit.

 

“You’re telling me I feel so underdressed now, you at least are wearing your best suit, me I’m wearing a t-shirt and my normal jacket not exactly classy.” Peter said admitting that he’s feeling worse about this than Rocket was. Rocket had to admit that Peter was right of the two of them Rocket was probably the closest to proper attire for such a place, but the two decided to try not to dwell on it too terribly since there was nothing they could really do about it now. Shortly after a different woman had approached them, she looked much more energetic, despite being dressed similarly to the first woman they had met, the woman had long black hair and had an excited smile at the two of them.

 

“Hello, the name’s Ashley I’ll be your server for this evening could I get you guys something to drink to start you off?” she asked as she handed both of them a menu. Looking up at the pair at the table Ashley seemed to get even more excited,

 

“I wasn’t expecting to be serving Peter Quill of the guardians tonight what a pleasure.” Ashely said earning a smile from Peter and a chuckle from Rocket.

 

“The pleasure is all mine Ashley.” Peter responded casually. Looking across the table from Peter Ashley’s smile remained as she greeted Rocket as well, 

 

“two guardians in one day, this is definitely a good day.” Ashley said and Rocket gave the woman a toothy smirk,

 

“Yep just out on a date with this dork.” Rocket said enjoying the blush he could see forming on Peter’s face in the corner of his eye while also enjoying the look on the woman’s face that clearly told Rocket she was fangirling over the idea of him and Peter which also helped give Rocket a boost to his confidence. Peter sat there for a second debating if he wants to just go simple and have just a water or if he should go all out on this date night with Rocket.

 

“A bottle of whatever you recommend and two glasses if you could.” Peter said having finally decided.

“Right away sir.” Ashley said with a smile as she trotted off.

 

“Ooh Baby-boo you spoil me.” Rocket said playfully after hearing Peter order their drinks. Rocket hadn’t admitted to Peter, but he actually hasn’t drank as much after that time on Knowhere when he had that emotional breakdown in front of him and the others, but Rocket would admit a drink or two would probably help them both feel less tense about being in such a fancy place. 

 

“Well only the best for my man, and besides we could use it to take some of the edge off and relax and enjoy our dinner instead of being so concerned with how out of place we feel.” Rocket and Peter then pulled open their menus shuffling through the pages to decide what to get. A short time later Ashley returned with a bottle and two wine glasses setting them on the table between Rocket and Peter. 

 

“So are you two gentlemen ready to order?” she asked retrieving her notepad and pen. The couple nodded and gave Ashley their order, as she jotted it down on her pad.

 

“Do you two need anything else?” the two both said that they were fine and she nodded and walked away to put their order in. Peter grabbed the black bottle and pulled the top off as he began filling his and Rocket’s glasses, the drink was a maroon-purple color. Once both glasses were filled Peter turned the bottle upright and put the stopper back in the top and placed the bottle down on the table. Rocket was the first to take a sip, it was oddly sweet unlike any alcohol he had tasted before, with a bit of a tangy aftertaste. 

 

“Well this is definitely unique, I haven’t had a drink this sweet in a while.” Rocket said as he took another sip before placing his glass back on the table. Peter then took a sip of his own drink and saw what rocket meant it was sweet, he couldn’t quite make out the flavor exactly, but it definitely would be classified as sweet. 

 

“Well I’ll be honest if you told me a month ago that I would not only be going out for a romantic dinner, but that the person across from me would be you Pete I don’t think past me would have believed you, like at all I probably would have laughed at the idea, but now that I’m here as sappy as it sounds there ain’t no place I’d rather be.” Rocket admitted. If Peter decided to make a big deal Rocket was fully prepared to blame his drink, even though he knew Peter wouldn’t buy that for a second. Rocket would admit it did feel nice to drop his tough guy act every now and then when it is just him and Peter, Rocket thought to himself that it’s probably because he feels comfortable and safe with Peter now that the two of them are together he doesn’t have to be so protective of his emotions around him anymore. The thought made Rocket internally smile it was weird, but he could definitely get used to being softer and more vulnerable like this.

 

“I feel the same way Rocket, I honestly haven’t been this happy for as long as I can remember, I mean yeah the jobs are fun, and I love all of you guys, but being with you, this intimately it fills me with a happiness that nothing else could.” with that exchange of words the couple continued sips of their drinks as they waited for their food to arrive. Ashley arrived with their plates of food and placed them down in front of them, 

 

“here you go, enjoy.” She said before leaving to tend to other customers. Rocket inhaled the aroma of his food and the scent quickly reminding Rocket of his hunger in full as he took his fork and knife and began digging into the meal he had ordered a fish native to Xandar that had been baked.

 

“Damn, I’ve been missing out this fish is damn good.” Rocket exclaimed, his volume drawing in the eyes of a few of the other customers which Rocket didn’t pay any attention to as he was too focused on his dinner. As they finished their meals Ashley came to collect their plates. 

 

“I trust everything was to your liking?” She said which earned a satisfied nod from Rocket and Peter, 

 

“You flarkin’ bet it was, best damn food I’ve had in awhile, though your cooking is a close second Baby Boo” Rocket said giving a smirk and a wink toward Peter as he added that last part. 

 

“Can I get you two any dessert?” Ashely asked. Rocket wanted so badly to say yes, he hadn’t told Peter yet, but he had a massive sweet tooth. Even Rocket knew better than to test his stomach’s limits tonight though and knew that his taste buds and eyes would be bigger than his stomach he conceded defeat to himself and looked back at Ashley, 

 

“Not this time sadly I’m too stuffed from that fish.” Peter agreed that he was too full to think of dessert so Ashley left their check on the table and returned into the crowd to take care of other customers. Both Rocket and Peter grabbed for the check at the same time, 

 

“Rocket dear, love of my life. I said I’d treat ya to a nice night out, so I’ll cover it this time.” Peter said sliding the check closer to his side of the table, which was met with resistance from Rocket who attempted to pull it back toward him, 

 

“Nope I should take this one.” After a few more minutes of the couple going back and forth they finally decided to split the bill. After Peter got up and began exiting the restaurant Rocket swung back briefly to leave a small bit extra for Ashley, he liked the woman she was probably one of the few Xandarians that didn’t annoy Rocket to some degree, even if he had only met her briefly. After dropping the extra credits Rocket sped out the door to quickly rejoin Peter. 

 

“Where’d you go?” Peter asked. 

 

“Nothing for you to worry about Pete, ready to head home? “ Rocket asked as he climbed back onto Peter’s shoulder, 

 

“Sure thing Rocky.” and the couple made their way back to the Milano. Once back on the ship they were met with Gamora who had waited in the cockpit for them to return.

 

“I trust you two had a nice evening.” She said as she greeted both of them. 

 

“Sure did, was a little awkward at first the place we chose to eat at turned out to be way more fancy than it appeared on the outside so we got a little nervous, but the night went well in the end.” Rocket said hopping off of Peter and heading in the direction of Peter’s room.

 

“ I’ll meet you in the room in a bit Rocket.” Peter called out and Rocket waved his hand back at Peter to signal he heard him. As Rocket opened the door to Peter’s room and turned on the lights the whole ship was filled with a resounding 

 

“WHAT THE FLARK?!” Peter seemed confused and startled and Gamora wore a knowing smile as she had been waiting all evening for that response. The source of the commotion Peter found out was Rocket standing shocked in Peter’s room as most of Rocket’s stuff had been moved into Peter’s room most notably Rocket’s workbench. 

 

“ Well I see you guys were busy, guess this makes this officially our room baby boo.” Rocket said as the shock wore off turning around towards Peter and Gamora. 

 

“Thanks Gams, I, uh just thanks.” Rocket managed out Gamora smiled and nodded knowing full well that despite the lack of words used Rocket did mean it he really was happy she did this. 

 

“This is only part of the work there is more to be done, but since we knew you two were only gone for the evening we only moved the essentials, the workbench and a few of Rocket’s clothes to put in the closet along with Peters.” Gamora explained before bidding them goodnight and heading to her room,

 

“and before you ask Rocket, Groot is fine he’s already fast asleep,” Gamora added before shutting her door. Rocket climbed up onto the bed and stared around at his surroundings, 

 

‘well I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I was probably gonna end up doing this eventually anyway.’ he thought to himself. Peter joined him in their bed as he slipped out of his shirt and jeans pulling Rocket closer to him.

 

“So what’s going on inside that genius mind of yours Rocky?” Peter asked kissing Rocket’s head. 

 

“Well…” Rocket started as his warm smile returned to his lips as he turned around and wrapped his legs around Peter’s waist and wrapped his arms around him. 

 

“I’m thinking I just had the best flarking night of my life with my boyfriend and came home to find our friends had taken it on themselves to move me in with you. So I think some celebration is in order.” Rocket said kissing Peter on the lips as he nipped gently at Peter’s lips not enough to cause any damage, but enough to signal to Peter that Rocket was definitely in the mood for some well deserved attention. Peter returned the kiss as he placed one hand on Rocket’s waist and the other began cupping the back of Rocket’s head gently. Rocket began getting lost in the heated moment and pushed his tongue against Peter’s lips, a signal that Peter gladly responded to by parting his lips slightly so that Rocket’s tongue could dive in. Lost in the moment Peter made a move for the zipper on Rocket’s suit which caused Rocket to abruptly break the kiss and back away briefly giving Peter as stern of a look as he could,

 

“Pete, please… keep that on for now… I’m… I’m not ready to let you see that yet… “ Rocket said his voice despite his stern expression was not one of anger, but rather of fear. Peter frowned worried he upset Rocket he brushed a hand down Rocket’s cheek, 

 

“It’s okay Rocket I mean, I love you for you, so you shouldn’t feel like you need to hide anything from me, but I also need to do the right thing and respect your wishes to take certain things slow, but I promise no matter what you think may happen there is nothing that can make me not love you.” Peter said attempting to calm Rocket down. Rocket slid off of Peter’s lap and sat slumped against his pillow, 

 

‘I did it, I fucked everything up because I’m too afraid of what he’ll think… He probably hates my guts right now… he loves me for flark’s sake, so why can’t I just accept that?’ Rocket sat mentally berating himself. Peter noticed the troubled expression on his boyfriend’s face and decided he needed to shift gears and fast. 

 

“Well how about this lets just lay down and get some sleep and if this is still bothering you we can talk it over in the morning okay?” Rocket turned to Peter and gave a weak grin trying his best to not make Peter worry more than he already is,

 

“Sure Pete, sounds like a plan.” and with that Peter and Rocket laid down for bed even though Rocket was sure he wouldn’t be doing much sleeping that night.


	9. Chapter Nine

Rocket roused from his sleep, still rather tired as he had trouble sleeping that night due to his guilt over snapping at Peter like he had, Peter told him he understood, but that didn’t mean Rocket didn’t feel bad about it, Rocket decided to apologize to Peter, so he went to roll over to face him. It was then that Rocket’s tired mind registered a startling realization, he was alone in the bed no sign of Peter anywhere. Rocket began to panic, 

 

“Peter?!” He said looking around frantically to see if Peter was anywhere in the room, 

 

‘Shit, shit, shit, shit, I really messed up this time…’ Rocket kept thinking to himself as he scrambled to get up out of bed, although in his panic he made a wrong move and fell out of the bed hitting his head against the table beside the bed. Rocket rubbed his head as he began to sit up, 

 

“Agh Flark… that was graceful..” He grumbled. As he regained his senses Rocket noticed a folded piece of paper on the floor next to him with his name written on the outside, clearly with Peter’s handwriting, Rocket decided to grab it and open the note, he began to read what Peter wrote.

 

“Rocket, I’m truly sorry for upsetting you last night, I wasn’t thinking, I just was so caught up in the heat of our moment that I made a dumb rash decision I know how concerned you are with your appearance and what I would think, I truly hope you will forgive me for what happened last night and that when you feel like you can trust that I won’t leave you that we can cross that threshold together, Love Peter.” Rocket felt his eyes begin to well up with tears, 

 

“Oh Pete, I really don’t deserve a guy like you…” Rocket muttered holding the letter close. Peter then burst into the room with a panicked look on his face, 

 

“Rocky, you alright? I heard a crash and just wanted to make sure you’re alright!” Peter said as he knelt down to Rocket. 

 

“I’m fine now ya dork, I fell out of the bed because I moved too fast when I tried getting up because I didn’t see you when I woke up so I got worried that I scared you away with my behavior last night.” Rocket began explaining as he tried to hide the evidence of the tears that were sitting in his eyes only moments before. 

 

“Then… well then I found your letter, or rather it found me after my head hit the nightstand… Pete I’m not mad at you if anything I felt like you would be upset at me…” Rocket finished as he swung his arms around Peter’s neck holding tight as Peter rubbed his back.

 

“I told you before Rocket I’m not going anywhere, this right here, you and me, it's what I want and our little bump last night isn’t gonna change that, sure it did bother me initially that you seemed like you still thought I’d change my mind if I saw more of you, when it can’t be further from the truth…” Peter said pulling Rocket back and making him look him in the eyes.

 

“... if anything Rocky, the night when you finally decide to let me see you, all of you, implants and all will only make me more certain I want to be with you forever because that will mean you trust me enough to show me something no one else has seen.” Peter finished with a comforting smile. Rocket returned the smile, 

 

“thanks Pete, really I am a lucky guy to have such a loving and patient boyfriend..” The couple sat there and held onto each other for a few minutes before they were startled by the sound of what sounded like an alarm coming from the dining area of the Milano. This caused Peter’s eyes to go wide before burying his face into his hand with a groan, 

 

“aw fuck me…” Peter grumbled as he got to his feet. Rocket began laughing, 

 

“bahahaha, don’t tell me you just burnt something in the kitchen baby boo.” Rocket exclaimed as he wiped tears from his eyes, though this time they were tears of laughter. Rocket then followed Peter to the kitchen as Peter ran to take care of the disaster before it got any worse. After the fire in the kitchen was put out Peter sat down at the dining table and Rocket slid on up next to him, 

 

“I’m sorry Pete I don’t mean to laugh, but it’s kinda funny.” Rocket said, he had been watching Peter for the last minute or so trying to control the accident that happened in the kitchen, and the whole time he had been just sitting there laughing at his boyfriend’s expense. Gamora and Drax made their way into the room to find out what happened and why the whole ship smelled like something was burning. 

 

“My friend’s why is the whole ship filled with the smell of something burning?” Drax asked. 

 

“It’s nothing you guys I was trying to cook a nice breakfast in bed for Rocket, sort of as an apology for something that happened last night, but then I heard a crash in the bedroom so I ran in to check on Rocket and got distracted and ended up forgetting about the food on the stove.” Rocket had stopped his snickering and chuckling at that moment, his humor replaced with a tinge of guilt. Rocket crossed his arms in front of him as he looked toward the floor and thought to himself about how he was acting. 

 

‘Peter was trying to do something nice and romantic for me, because he felt bad last night and all I did was laugh at him this entire time, won’t lie kinda feel like a flarking jackass right now…’ with that Rocket made a mental note to do something to repay Peter for such a nice attempted gesture though he wasn’t sure what yet. 

 

“Thanks Pete…” Rocket spoke up which caused Peter, Gamora, and Drax to turn their heads toward him. 

 

“What for Rocket?” Peter said honestly puzzled a minute or so before Rocket had been stuck in a bout of hysterical laughter at Peter’s own expense, and now Rocket was looking at him with no traces of the humor in his tone from before, face straighter than it’s been all day. 

 

“I, uh… hey Gams, Drax think you two can give me a moment with Peter?” Rocket asked shifting his gaze to the other two guardians who both silently nodded and exited the dining area leaving just Peter and Rocket. 

 

“Pete, I just wanted to say thanks for everything, You’ve talked me down from multiple emotional outbursts over the course of a few days, took me out to one hell of a fancy restaurant, tried to cook me a nice breakfast this morning because you felt you needed to apologize for last night’s mishap… and what have I done? Laughed in your face all morning like a jackass when all you have done is try to treat me like goddamn royalty, I honestly feel like shit right now for how I acted this morning and I’m sorry…” Rocket said all this while returning his gaze to the floor fumbling his hands around in his lap as he sat at the booth. Rocket wasn’t used to being emotional, and he sure as hell wasn’t normally one to apologize for his behavior so Peter was honestly caught off guard with how much Rocket had been apologizing today. 

 

“Rocket… baby is something wrong? I appreciate the apology, but you’ve been extra apologetic today, not to mention don’t think I didn’t notice how quickly you stopped your usual jabs at me last night when we were looking for a place to eat.” Peter said sounding concerned. Peter knew there was a lot he didn’t know about Rocket, but one thing he did know was underneath his rough exterior Rocket had years upon years of pent up depression, hurt, loneliness, and the universe knows what else and so he has always been patient with his companion, but has taken extra levels of caution since they started dating because that alone is new territory for Rocket. Rocket shook his head as his shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh, 

 

“Pete, I’m no good with words, but I can manage to say this much… I have no clue what I’m doing, with any of this. Being in love, being with you its all so foreign to me, and I’m always worried I’ll say or do something wrong and before I can blink all this, my shot at real happiness in this universe will be over…” Rocket said and Peter could see Rocket’s fists clenched tight as his whole body shook. Peter did the only thing he could think of and pulled Rocket into his lap and holding him as close and as tight as he could without hurting him. Rocket allowed himself to position his head against Peter’s chest above his heart and allowed himself to clear his mind by listening to the subtle beat of Peter’s heart and tuning out all other sounds. After about thirty minutes Rocket’s body had at least stopped trembling and Peter began running his fingers through the fur on the top of Rocket’s head. 

 

“Now Rocky I’m gonna speak now and I don’t want you to speak until I’m finished, Okay?” Peter waited for a moment, he felt Rocket’s head nod from where it was leaned into his chest. 

 

“When I fell in love with you, and then decided to try this with you… I fell in love with the sarcastic, smart mouthed, abrasive asshole that you are, I appreciate you trying to bite your tongue more often to not upset me. I just don’t want you having the wrong idea I love you for you, you shouldn’t change yourself for me. Make no mistake I love how open and sweet you’ve been on me since we became a thing, I just don’t want you changing because you feel you have to okay?” Peter said all the while still absently stroking Rocket’s head.

 

“Okay Star-Dork I’ll try to be a bit more mean to you then.” Rocket teased with a chuckle starting to return to his usual self. 

 

“Hey, hey, hey, easy there Rocky I didn’t mean ya had to go back to insulting my nickname.” Peter said pretending to be hurt, but Rocket could tell Peter was just happy to see Rocket in a better mood. The couple shared another silent embrace just enjoying the warmth, and the renewed happiness in the room helping put them both at ease. 

 

“ Hey, I have an idea Rocket. If you want to that is.” Peter said finally breaking the silence in the room. Rocket finally moved his head to look up at Peter, 

 

“What’s this idea of yours?” he asked with a smile that was filled with curiosity.

 

“Well I know it’s been a while, but I figured we could head down to the bar downtown and have a couple drinks, nothing crazy, just take some of the edge off.” Peter suggested. Rocket thought about it for a bit, 

 

‘what harm could a round or two do?’ Rocket reasoned with himself. Rocket gave a shrug in response to Peter’s proposition,

 

“Sure why the hell not, definitely among your better ideas, not that that’s saying nothing~” Rocket said making a jab at Peter. Peter wasn’t gonna argue, after all it was he who just essentially told Rocket he missed him being a jackass, so Peter could only admit he had this coming. Without another word Rocket made his way onto Peter’s shoulder as he had grown accustomed to doing over the past few days and the couple exited the Milano and went back again into the streets of Xandar. Coming to the bar that Peter had mentioned Rocket hopped off and Peter opened the door. Rocket paused before entering the building instead waving Peter inside first, 

 

“Ladies first.” Rocket chuckled, earning him a half-assed scowl from Peter as Peter gently pushed Rocket through the door,

 

“Age before beauty.” Peter bit back and Rocket couldn’t help another fond smile ghosting his lips at the playful banter. Upon entering the bar Peter and Rocket were greeted with the deafening sound of music and patrons talking loudly to each other in order to converse over the sound of the music.Peter shifted his way through the crowds to find an open table Rocket following close behind not particularly in the mood to get separated. Finding a table Peter gestured for Rocket to take a seat as Peter took his across from him.

 

“So uh, I think it’s safe to say this place is popular.” Peter said, actually seeming to not have expected it to be this boisterous. Rocket simply nodded, his tail flicking lightly.

 

“I’ll uh go get us some drinks.” Peter said before getting up to go get him and Rocket some drinks. Rocket sat alone at the table eventually taking to tapping his fingers across the table to the beat of the song playing throughout the space. A few moments go by and a xandarian guy approaches Rocket, 

 

“Hey, who left their rat in my sssssheat?” Rocket looked up at the man, roughly an inch or two taller than Peter, and built like a wall. Rocket, despite the man’s intimidating appearance wasn’t afraid of him, especially since Rocket felt he would have the advantage in any fight that was sure to ensue, this being due to the man clearly being already intoxicated, where as Rocket was as sober as he’d ever be. 

 

“I don’t see drunk bastard, written on this seat anywhere, maybe you have a magnifying glass or something so I can find it.” Rocket bit back with his trademark toothy smirk. 

 

“That’s it, I ain’t taking to ssssshit from ssssome dumb animal!” the man roared before throwing a sloppy drunken punch towards Rocket. Rocket simply ducked his head out of the way watching the fist fly passed his face. Rocket easily dodging the man’s punch only served to anger him more. The man pulled his arm back to prepare for another swing, but before he could throw his punch, he was struck across the face and fumbled over onto the ground. The attacker none other than a very pissed off Peter Quill,

 

“Watch what you say asshole! This “Dumb animal” I believe you called him is with me, and better yet I’m sure that he’s probably smarter than anyone in here…” Peter all, but growled out at the guy who simply sat on the floor, dazed looking up at Peter. Rocket watched the whole thing unfold too shocked at the speed in which all of it happened to give any sort of a reaction except to stare blankly as his boyfriend decked the man that was easily twice his weight with little more than a punch, which Rocket had to admit had him definitely more than a little impressed. Rocket then managed to look at Peter’s face, and he took note of the fire that could practically be seen burning out of his eyes fueled by the anger towards the man.

 

Rocket of course could have handled the man quite easily, but that didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate what Peter did just now, and just like that Rocket felt almost all his doubts about the sincerity of Peter’s feelings for him melt away. Recovering from the shock of the sudden blow from Peter the man clambered to his feet and shot a look at Peter that was so filled with disgust, the disgust only growing as he looked between Rocket and Peter the realization dawning on him. 

 

“You two disgust me…” the man snarled. Rocket finally took his turn to speak regaining his cocky facade and smirked at him, 

 

“Yes, because drunken asshole, is so far up on my list of people whose opinions matter to me about my choice in partners.” Rocket sneered, without another word the man sulked away, presumably Rocket hoped to exit the bar. After checking to be sure Rocket was fine Peter left again to finish getting their drinks. When Peter went to place the credits on the bar table the bartender having witnessed the entire outburst had stopped him, 

 

“This one’s on the house, least I can do after watching what transpired.” The man insisted, Peter thanked the man and returned to the table with their drinks. The couple enjoyed their drinks in companionable silence, Rocket having moved his chair so he could sit by Peters side slipping his hand into Peter’s free hand. Once the drinks were finished Peter and Rocket got up from their seats, having had enough excitement to not bother with a second drink. As the turned to leave Peter briefly turned and waved to the bartender who returned the wave with a small smile. Once they were out of the bar and making their way home Rocket broke the silence. 

 

“Thanks a lot for that Pete, honestly and you won’t hear me say this around Gamora, but I was thoroughly impressed with how easily you knocked that guy over.” Rocket said chuckling as he remembered the guy’s face as he fell to the ground after Peter decked him.

 

“I’ve had lots of practice with bar fights, you know growing up with the ravagers and all, and I know, I know before you say anything I know you could have handled that guy yourself, I know you aren’t defenseless, I just wasn’t gonna sit there and do nothing when that asshole decided to insult my boyfriend.” Peter said, knowing full well Rocket hates being rescued like that, like he’s some sort of damsel. 

 

“S’alright Pete, to be fair if someone was doing something like that to you I probably would have acted the same, so it’s perfectly fine I get it y’know you were upset by what the man said, and quite frankly if I had to choose between keeping my reputation of being a badass barfighter, or watching my boyfriend get all defensive of me like that. I’d do all of that all over again.” Rocket said reassuring Peter that he wasn’t mad for Peter taking action. 

 

“Besides, if I’m being honest you’re kinda hot when you are all protective and angry.” Rocket added sticking his tongue out slightly as he watched Peter’s face go bright red. Peter looked around at their surroundings desperately looking for anything he could use to change the subject. Spotting the water fountain near the center of the city Peter smiled, 

 

“Come on Rocky.” Peter said practically dragging Rocket as he sped over to the fountain. Once they got there Rocket’s face showed the confusion he had at what Peter was suddenly so excited about, 

 

“what’s the big deal its just a fountain, we see it every time we come through here.” Rocket asked with a raised eyebrow up at Peter. On his end of things Peter was now wearing the widest goofiest grin, one that Rocket would secretly admit made him happy as well after all nothing seemed more important to Rocket as of late than seeing Peter happy. 

 

“You see, I was just reminded of a tradition people used to do back home.” Peter began explaining and Rocket silently rolled his eyes, 

 

‘of course this is another Terran thing, these always seem to pop up at the most random times.’ he thought to himself.

 

“You see, back home one would take a penny, a type of currency on my planet and close their eyes and make a wish, they’d then throw the penny into the fountain, and supposedly whatever you wished for would come true.” Peter finished explaining. 

 

“Uh-huh, and?” Rocket asked, he had an idea where Peter was going with all this, but wanted to wait and see what exactly his dork of a boyfriend wanted to do. Peter began fishing through his bag and pulled out a credit and handed it to Rocket.

 

“I want you to give it a try.” Peter said as he held the credit out to Rocket. Rocket took it and held it in his hand for a moment,

 

“Aw what the hell, there’s no harm in partaking in this little ritual you humies like.” Rocket said before turning to face the fountain and closing his eyes. 

 

‘I hope that I don’t flark this up. I finally have a slice of something good in this messed up universe and wish to whatever powers that be that I don’t lose it, not now, not ever.’ and as he finished his thought Rocket took the credit and chucked it into the fountain.

 

“So what’d you wish for Rocky?” Peter asked looking absolutely overjoyed that he actually got Rocket to do that.

 

“Nuh-uh then I won’t get what I want Baby boo, or isn’t that what you Terrans believe?” Rocket said hopping up on the rim of the fountain to gain some height to match Peter. 

 

“Surprised you actually pay attention to that stuff, thought you hate when I talk about home.” Peter said honestly a bit surprised. 

 

“Well of course I listen ya idiot, I may not see what you see in that planet of yours, but I care about you and I see how happy you are when you talk about small things here and there about your home, and so of course I pay attention.” Rocket stated matter-of-factly.

 

“So what about you, I threw some of our money in that stupid fountain, now its your turn.” Rocket said noticing that Peter still hadn’t made his own wish. Peter simply shook his head and sat down next to Rocket. 

 

“I already got everything I could ask for, a crew to travel the galaxy with, and the man who matters more to me than anything in the galaxy, right here by my side.” Peter said placing a hand over Rocket’s. 

 

“Okay Pete, you are seriously gonna kill me with all this tooth-rotting sweet talk of yours you’re lucky I don’t shove your flarkin’ ass into the fountain right now ya dork.” Rocket said hopping up off the fountain and stretching a bit before continuing the trip back to the ship. 

 

“But I’m your dork.” Peter called back as he got up to follow Rocket. 

 

“True, true.” was Rocket’s only response as the couple made their way back through the streets.


	10. Authors note

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, and I want to see what you all think, I love the story I’m working on so far and want very much to continue it, but I also recognize my own flaws in some of the chapters I wrote so far with pacing and some other things that bother me...

 

so what I want to do is take an opportunity to revisit the previous chapters I worked on and rewrite them not in any drastic story altering way, but in a way that feels and reads better, I may also add in a few extra chapters here and there to flesh out certain parts of the story that I felt were a bit rushed looking back...

 

after the revamp is finished the story will continue, I have no intention of abandoning this story, but I also want it to be the best it can be so I hope you all will understand my decision to do this, thank you and love you all I hope you all will forgive this inconvenience


	11. Authors note

Hello all, I just wanted to discuss with you an idea I’ve had that I would like your input on, with my remake of Stranger places to find love taking shape to be going in a slightly different path beyond chapter 3 I am now faced with a dilemma, I am stuck between taking this version down for organizational purposes so that I only have the one story with this title posted so I or my readers don’t get confused when I discuss this story, on the other hand since the story will possibly become slightly different this time around I could keep this up as a reminder of what the story was going to be like, I’d also lose all the valuable comments and kudos that we’re so kindly left on the original if I removed it, so I’ll ask you my valued readers if you’d rather I keep this version up or if it causes to much clutter I can remove this version and only keep the updated one


End file.
